User blog:Icetalon of RiverClan/Animal books for ages 10-14+
If, like me you happen to like animal books, then you may find that the range of fictional animal stories for older children and teenagers is surprisingly small. It's like, as soon as you hit about 10 years old you are suddenly expected to like gory supernatural thrillers if you are a boy, or else soppy teenage lurve stories if you are a girl. However, after many years of scouring the internet, libraries and charity shops, here is a list of animal books which I enjoyed. *Watership Down by Richard Adams; very, very good book in which a rabbit named Fiver gets a dream that doom is approaching the warren, and so he and his friends set off on an epic quest to find a new home. Also if you like this book, read Tales From Watership Down, which is a clooection of short stories about the original bunnies and their folk tales. *Animals of Farthing Wood by Colin Dann; Lovely series, from the look of the blurb it looks like a dull, unrealistic, old-fashioned book to keep kiddies happy, but this totally isn't true. Ok, I admit, at the age of 13 some people may say it's too young for me, but I still love it! If you like these books, read more of Colin Dann's animal stories, they're all good, though they are sometimes hard to get hold of. *Warriors/Warrior Cats series by Erin Hunter; I cannot say enough for this series. It is sort of like a feline soap opera in book form, but with more horror, action and suspense than a lot of teenage books! It is about feral cats fighting for survival. Also read the Seekers series by the same author, really, really good books. *Chia the Wildcat by Joyce Stranger; Lovely book about a wildcat struggling to raise her kits in the Scottish Highlands, a bit of a tear-jerker so keep a box of tissues handy if you are of the sentimental kind! I like the way it shows things from the gamekeeper's point of view as well as the wildcat's. *Redwall series by Brian Jacques; good series about animals who act like humans and have battles with swords and axes and stuff. The majority of the books are very good, but some are a bit samey and repeat the same sort of things in the previous books, but that is definitely no reason to avoid it. *The Silver Brumby series by Elyne Mitchell; I love this series. It is about wild Australian horses living in the outback, but unlike a lot of horse books they are certainly not girly! A must read for boys and girls who love animals. *Cry to the Moon by Joyce Stranger; another book about wildcats from Joyce Stranger, this is about a wildcat named Hexa who is bringing up kittens on an estate owned by a gamekeeper, who detests wildcats and other predators of his grouse and is determined to kill her. Secretly though his daughter Sheina has sympathy for the wildcat and behind her father's back, she sneaks outside and feeds the wildcats scraps of meat. But when her father gets a stroke and the estate is sold, Sheina realises that it isn't just the wildcats who have problems to face. A lovely book, but although it has no swear words or anything bad in it it is still classed as an 'Adult' book in the library and children younger than about twelve may have trouble understanding it. Animal Books I didn't enjoy so much *Flyaway by Lucy Christopher; nice book, but a tad too mushy in parts for my liking. The main character is a girl called Isla whose father has to be rushed into hospital with a heart problem. While she is visiting him, she meets a boy with cancer and also finds a swan who has lost her flock and for some reason is unable to fly. As Isla helps the swan to fly, her life is changed in many different ways. Though I liked the book, I thought it was a bit..well...slushy, I suppose is the word. Like for example if I met a boy who had cancer in a waiting room, I might smile or say hello if he caught my eye, but I wouldn't go as far as to have a deep and meaningful conservation with him and meet up with him in secret and go all lovey-dovey all over him. Or maybe I'm just not a very romantic person. I dunno... *Tarka the Otter by Henry Williamson; Okay, so I know as soon as I type this down there are gonna be loads of people saying 'how dare you critisicise such an important piece of English liturature'...but this has to be one of the most boring and depressing books I have ever read!!!! Here's a summary of what's in it. (NOTE if you fancy reading this book don't read any further) First the otter's sister dies. Then his mate dies. Then his friend dies. Then he dies in a mutual kill with a flipping otterhound!!!! Yeah it was well written and all. Yeah I know otters had a rough time back then. But why did they have to make so darn depressing and unisteresting?!? Oh and at the back page there's a picture of dead Tarka with a seagull pecking him. That just about summed up my opinion of the book in one line drawing. Of course, there are lots more animal books out there, so keep looking, this is only a list of some of the best ones I found so far, I shall add more when I find them. Also if you can reccomend some please tell, I would be happy to try them out myself! Category:Blog posts